Donna’s Author Bio

Emma and Donna on a girls’ weekend getaway to Cape Cod in October 2010.

Donna Mebane grew up wanting to be two things: a mother and a writer. She became a mom after the birth of her first child, Jason. She became a writer after the death of her youngest child, Emma. While Donna has had numerous writing experiences over the years, she became a published author after she wrote Tomorrow Comes as a way of envisioning a future for her 19-year-old daughter who went to sleep one night and never woke up. She calls Tomorrow Comes a work of “reality fiction” because it captures the reality of grief that family and friends endured after Emma died at the same time that it creates an enchanting fictional world of AFTER where Emma can continue to be herself.

Born in Pennsylvania as the daughter of a US Navy Commander, Donna moved frequently in her childhood years and so developed an easy, approachable style and a warm sense of humor that helped her make new friends easily. She applies these same attributes to her writing, mixing gentle good humor with heart-touching authenticity and simple, accessible language with profound truths about loss and hope. Donna lives with her husband, Rod, and daughter, Sarah, in Geneva, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Her son, Ben, also lives in Geneva and son, Jason, lives in Seattle. Emma is always close in spirit. Donna is currently working on a Tomorrow Comes sequel, with the working title, Tomorrow Matters.

Also see Donna’sAuthor Notes, which beautifully detail the backstory for the development of Tomorrow Comes in the months after Emma’s death.